Xuxing Lu

Bifacial DNA Origami-Directed Discrete, Three-Dimensional, Anisotropic Plasmonic Nanoarchitectures with Tailored Optical Chirality

Discrete three-dimensional (3D) plasmonic nanoarchitectures with well-defined spatial configuration and geometry have aroused increasing interest, as new optical properties may originate from plasmon resonance coupling within the nanoarchitectures. Although spherical building blocks have been successfully employed in constructing 3D plasmonic nanoarchitectures because their isotropic nature facilitates unoriented localization, it still remains challenging to assemble anisotropic building blocks into discrete and rationally tailored 3D plasmonic nanoarchitectures. Here we report the first example of discrete 3D anisotropic gold nanorod (AuNR) dimer nanoarchitectures formed using bifacial DNA origami as a template, in which the 3D spatial configuration is precisely tuned by rationally shifting the location of AuNRs on the origami template. A distinct plasmonic chiral response was experimentally observed from the discrete 3D AuNR dimer nanoarchitectures and appeared in a spatial-configuration-dependent manner. This study represents great progress in the fabrication of 3D plasmonic nanoarchitectures with tailored optical chirality.

Novel polymer-free iridescent lamellar hydrogel for two-dimensional confined growth of ultrathin gold membranes

Hydrogels are generally thought to be formed by nano- to micrometre-scale fibres or polymer chains, either physically branched or entangled with each other to trap water. Although there are also anisotropic hydrogels with apparently ordered structures, they are essentially polymer fibre/discrete polymer chains-based network without exception. Here we present a type of polymer-free anisotropic lamellar hydrogels composed of 100-nm-thick water layers sandwiched by two bilayer membranes of a self-assembled nonionic surfactant, hexadecylglyceryl maleate. The hydrogels appear iridescent as a result of Braggs reflection of visible light from the periodic lamellar plane. The particular lamellar hydrogel with extremely wide water spacing was used as a soft two-dimensional template to synthesize single-crystalline nanosheets in the confined two-dimensional space. As a consequence, flexible, ultrathin and large area single-crystalline gold membranes with atomically flat surface were produced in the hydrogel. The optical and electrical properties were detected on a single gold membrane.

DNA-Directed Gold Nanodimers with Tailored Ensemble Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Properties

Gold nanodimers (GNDs) are assembled with high uniformity as ideal surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates through DNA-directed self-assembly of gold nanoparticles. The interparticle distance within GNDs is precisely tailored on the order of a few nanometers with changing the molecule length of DNA bridge. The ensemble SERS activity of monodispersed GNDs is then rationally engineered by modifying the structural parameters of GNDs including the particle size and interparticle distance. Theoretical studies on the level of single GND evidence the particle size- and interparticle-distance-dependent SERS effects, consistent with the ensemble averaged measurements.

DNA Origami-Directed, Discrete Three-Dimensional Plasmonic Tetrahedron Nanoarchitectures with Tailored Optical Chirality

Discrete, three-dimensional (3D) gold nanoparticle (AuNP) tetrahedron nanoarchitectures are successfully self-assembled with DNA origami as template with high purity (>85%). A distinct plasmonic chiral response is experimentally observed from the AuNP tetrahedron nanoarchitectures and appears in a configuration-dependent manner. The chiral optical properties are then rationally engineered by modifying the structural parameters including the AuNP size and interparticle distance. Theoretical study of the AuNP tetrahedron nanoarchitectures shows the dependence of the chiral optical property on the AuNP size and interparticle distance, consistent with the ensemble averaged measurements.

Direct coating of mesoporous titania on CTAB-capped gold nanorods

We demonstrate a CTAB-templated approach towards direct coating of mesoporous titania on gold nanorods in aqueous solutions. The formation of the mesoporous shell is found to be closely correlated with CTAB concentration and the amount of the titania precursor. This approach can be readily extended to form mesoporous titania shells on other CTAB-capped nanoparticles.

Dispersive Plasmon Damping in Single Gold Nanorods by Platinum Adsorbates.

Surface modifications of plasmonic nanoparticles with metal adsorbates are essential in applications such as plasmonic sensing, plasmon-enhanced photocatalysis, etc., where spectral broadening is usually observed. A single particle study is presented on plasmon damping by adsorption of platinum (Pt) clusters. Single particle dark-field spectroscopy is employed to measure exactly the same gold nanorod before and after the Pt adsorption. The Pt-induced plasmon damping in terms of linewidth increase is found dependent on the resonance wavelength of the measured nanorod, which is dispersive in nature. The measured dispersion generally matches the theoretical prediction, and it basically exhibits a gradual increase with decreasing resonance energy. This increase can be attributed to the fact that the nanorod as a better resonator is more susceptible to the Pt adsorption than the spherical particles. Moreover, simulated results based on discrete dipole approximation method further indicate that the damping is mainly contributed from the adsorbates on the ends of the nanorod and independent on the type of the metal adsorbed. Knowledge and insights gained in this study can be very important for the design and fabrication of plasmonic heterostructures as functional nanomaterials.

Bilateral linear SURE-based SAR interferogram filter

ABSTRACT This article proposes a new filter for interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) phase denoising. Traditional phase filters generally face two major challenges: to preserve texture details while reducing noise and to perform well in less time. The local linear model-based guided filter and Stein’s unbiased risk estimate (SURE)-based filter, in contrast, have a high quality of edge-preserving performance and high efficiency owing to the feature of SURE formula and simplicity. Nevertheless, as these filters are designed for general digital images, they are not suitable for periodic and high-noise-level interferometric phase images. In this article, we modified the original filters by considering the coherence coefficient and features of the interferometric phase image, creating a new patch-based filter adapted to areas characterized by different coherences. Moreover, after obtaining the solution of a patch, considering the geometric closeness and the phasic similarity, we used a bilateral filter combining the pixels in the patch to obtain the estimate. Experimental results based on the simulated and real data confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Metal Adsorbate-Induced Plasmon Damping in Gold Nanorods: The Difference Between Metals

We presented a single particle study on the metal adsorbate-induced plasmon damping in Au nanorods (AuNRs) through adsorbing clusters of different metals including Pt, Au and Ag. AuNRs with different longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) wavelength were measured and investigated individually. Linewidth broadening, plasmon shift and reduction of plasmonic resonance of single AuNRs were studied and compared between Pt, Au and Ag adsorbates. The measured linewidths perfectly match the theoretical predictions of the billiard model with increased scattering coefficients resulted from the metal adsorbates. The results indicate that the plasmon damping in case of Ag is significantly weaker than Pt and Au, which can be attributed to longer relaxation time of free electrons in Ag and therefore less loss of the oscillating plasmon electrons. In contrast to the red shift observed from Au and Pt, blue shift of the LSPR is observed in case of Ag. It suggests that plasmonic properties brought by the metal adsorbates can exert dramatic influence on the nanoparticle that is adsorbed with. We believe that our study not only provides important understanding on plasmon damping but pave the road for the fabrication of complex nanostructures with two or more metal elements.